1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods for shielding the eyes, and in particular, to eye shields designed to attach to a safety helmet.
2. Description of Related Art
Construction workers and emergency personnel often wear safety helmets under varying conditions and for extended periods of time. The users of these helmets may also wear safety glasses for avoiding eye injury, or ordinary sunglasses to deal with bright light and glare. When doing close-up work or when working in a relatively dark environment, safety helmet users will often temporarily remove their glasses. The temporarily removed glasses are then often lost or damaged. In some cases a user may wish to glance at a bright scene or a dark scene and therefore may wish to briefly don or remove sunglasses, but this process is inconvenient and for efficiency's sake may be performed by temporarily lifting or removing the safety helmet. Obviously, helmet removal is to be avoided for safety reasons.
The safety helmets known as hardhats typically have right and left slots along the lower rim of the helmet for holding accessories such as ear muffs. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,950. In FIGS. 6 and 7 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,528 a visor 96 is attached through pivot 92 to arm 88, which connects through pivot 92 to a connecting member 86 that is attached to side slots on a hard hat from above. When not needed, visor 96 swings upwardly to a position above the brim of the hard hat. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,738.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,738 a safety visor is attached to an arm 21 that is pivotally connected to blocks 22 that are designed to snap into the side slots on a hard hat from above. The visor is positioned in front of the brim when in use. When no longer needed, the visor swings into a position above the brim. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,551.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,207 an eye shade 13 is bolted or screwed to bill 12 of a hard hat.
In FIG. 5 of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2002/0069489 a pair of wings 10 are clipped into the side slots of a hard hat to provide a nook for holding the temples of sunglasses that are not in use.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,854 a face shield is hinged to a bracket that is screwed or bolted onto the side of a protective helmet.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,729 the goggles straps 34 can be pushed onto quick fasteners that attach to the edge of a safety helmet.
See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,719 (helmet windshield attached to the helmet by pivots 11); U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,233 (alternative visors pivotally connected to the side of a light sports helmet); U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,109; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,739.